MIA AND WOODY: LOVE AND BETRAYAL

MIA AND WOODY: LOVE AND BETRAYAL. Kristi Groteke with Marjorie Rosen. Carroll and Graf; 1994.

Kristi Groteke was Mia Farrow's nanny for several years, and became her friend and confident. Although she tries to suggest that Mia was okay with her writing this book, I seriously doubt if that was the case, for this tell-all tome, while essentially sympathetic to Farrrow, is unsparing and unflinching in its depiction of the actress and her relationship with long-time partner (but not spouse) Woody Allen and her children. As everyone knows, Allen's sexual and romantic relationship with Farrow's daughter, Soon-Yi Previn (adopted by Farrow and her then-husband Andre Previn) is what caused the sensational, lurid and distasteful split with Farrow. The book reveals that Soon-Yi has a very low IQ, but it also goes into intensely personal details about the other children, who should have been spared such scrutiny. The book is well-written and exhaustive, and also examines at length the charges that Allen molested his daughter, Dylan, and several court documents and statements are reproduced. In attempts to have a sensational bestseller, Groteke may have gone a little overboard (especially where the Innocent children are concerned), but this is undeniably a riveting and "juicy" read. This book was one of the sources for the telefilm Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story. Groteke undoubtedly got a bundle of cash for both book and movie, but I don't know if it did anyone else any good.

Verdict: This is why nannies should always sign confidentiality agreements! ***.

GREGORY PECK: A CHARMED LIFE

GREGORY PECK: A CHARMED LIFE. Lynn Haney. Carroll and Graf; 2004.

In this excellent biography of the late actor, author Lynn Haney wisely does not try to make a case that Peck was some kind of acting genius, only that he was a talented, handsome movie star who gave some memorable and effective performances over the years. Haney is also psychologically penetrating at times, such as when she writes of his Catholic upbringing: "The pressure to be a 'good Catholic boy' ... proved to be a liability in some of the roles he played as an actor. It encouraged a self-imposed constipation, a rigidity of posture that translated into conventional heroics rather than the go-for-broke intensity we see in actors like Marlon Brando and James Cagney that really strikes a nerve." Despite this his solidity served him well in certain roles such as in The Omen. Peck's career actually benefited because he was classified 4F at a time when there was a shortage of male actors, and he resisted signing contracts that would have turned him into an indentured servant for the studios. Like a great many actors, Peck jettisoned the first wife who stood by him during the early days for a younger model, although, to be fair, there may have been other problems in his marriage. Haney covers his childhood, early years in the theater, his marriages and possible affairs, the tragic suicide of his son, and all of his movies. Peck tried challenging parts he wasn't always suited for, such as in Moby Dick and The Boys from Brazil [where he was actually quite arresting], and had the guts to risk falling on his face, even while he garnered more Oscar nominations than you might realize, winning for To Kill a Mockingbird. Peck was miscast in Hitchcock's interesting The Paradine Case but struck just the right note in Mirage. Despite his upbringing, he was not one of Hollywood's conservatives, but supported causes such as Gay Rights. Behind his classically refined features was a more complex man than one might imagine.

Verdict: Probably the last word on Peck. ***1/2.

UNDER THE RAINBOW: AN INTIMATE MEMOIR OF JUDY GARLAND, ROCK HUDSON AND MY LIFE IN OLD HOLLYWOOD John Carlyle

UNDER THE RAINBOW: AN INTIMATE MEMOIR OF JUDY GARLAND, ROCK HUDSON AND MY LIFE IN OLD HOLLYWOOD. John Carlyle. Carroll and Graf; 2006. Foreword by Robert Osborne.

Watching an episode of the old TV show Mike Hammer, I was struck by the performance of a young actor I'd never heard of: John Carlyle. He was good-looking, but better than that, he was talented. I looked him up and discovered that he had written a posthumously-published -- Carlyle died in 2003 at age 72 -- book about his life and his relationship with Judy Garland. Actors who don't quite make it big in Hollywood, rarely write memoirs [or at least have them published] unless they are somehow linked to a famous name, so we have to take all the Judy Garland business with a grain of salt. That Carlyle was a fan of the singer and that he became one of her late-in-life friends (or hangers-on) is not in doubt, but his "affair" with Garland is a little more problematic as Carlyle is openly gay. The "romance" comes off more like Garland and a gay fan fooling around and playing house, talking of marriage the way two little kids would. (Although Carlyle never applies the term to himself, his attempts to come off as bisexual are unconvincing, almost a throwback to the skittishness of the homophobic period he grew up in.) There is much, much less in the book about Rock Hudson, but some interesting observations about agent Henry Willson. Carlyle writes quite well, even if he can't quite shed that air of affectedness that he did not betray in his performance on Mike Hammer. Carlyle's failure to become a big name or even well-known could be attributed to many factors -- his sexual orientation, his distractions with drugs and alcohol, the vagaries of fate and Hollywood, the lack of big breaks or the ability to seize upon them when they arrived -- but, if nothing else, he did have talent. Like many actors, Carlyle often comes off as superficial and self-absorbed, and frankly it's kind of pathetic that he never found his soul mate in another man but in  -- Judy Garland!? -- making the poor guy an incredibly dated gay stereotype! (He refers to the man he lived with in his later years more as a companion than partner or lover.) His passages on foreign travel are facile if glib.

Verdict: A fairly interesting and well-written look at a Hollywood insider and also-ran, but not essential reading. **1/2.